Saraswathie grows up with aspirations of becoming a teacher. Do you think what happens to her subsequently is plausible?

Posted Sep. 15, 2014
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bettyt

Join Date: 05/12/11

Posts: 176

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RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

Yes, it is plausible. She grew up in war, has never known anything else. She lost two brothers to war. The third was taken away by soldiers and never seen again. Her friend was raped by soldiers and then killed herself. So, yes, it is not a surprise that she is forced into being a "soldier" also. She is raped like her friend was. Eventually she becomes like those around her.

Posted Sep. 15, 2014
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vickic

Join Date: 09/15/14

Posts: 28

RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

Yes because Saraswathie is a child of war and as such must adapt to survive its horrors. She must find her strength to survive even if the person she must become is far from her childhood dream.

Posted Sep. 15, 2014
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jwbriggs13

Join Date: 05/09/12

Posts: 33

RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

Her story is certainly plausible. In fact, it is as though it was "ripped from the headlines." If you pick up a newspaper and read of the atrocities committed on women and children in war torn countries, you read stories that are heartrendingly similar to Saraswathie's story. Her experience adds unsettling but important depth to the story.

Posted Sep. 15, 2014
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joyces

Join Date: 06/16/11

Posts: 403

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RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

As others have said it is plausible. We have just had a day of remembrance for an event that should make us know that training suicide bombers to think that what they do is right and honorable is not fiction and is not too unusual in our conflicted world. People who are taught that they are abused and downtrodden unfairly and have these things more or less taught as a religion and repeated incessantly are certainly not unwilling to do whatever they are taught is necessary to correct the situation.

Posted Sep. 15, 2014
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Navy Mom

Join Date: 04/12/12

Posts: 213

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RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

Unfortunately what happens to Saraswathie is very possible. She was strong enough to survive the brutal rape physically and she may have been able to survive it mentally also if her family didn't react the way they did and send her out to be a soldier. The Tiger group becomes her validation of being a person. This is why groups recruit such young people to join their causes.

Posted Sep. 16, 2014
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mariannes

Join Date: 12/17/12

Posts: 206

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RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

Certainly what happened was plausible. We see examples of it in the media frequently, unfortunately.

Posted Sep. 17, 2014
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lynnw

Join Date: 09/01/11

Posts: 141

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RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

Sad, but possible. I thought she was so damaged by what happened to her and how her culture shamed her for being a victim. It was especially sad how her life ended and who she took with her.

Posted Sep. 17, 2014
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djn

Join Date: 05/19/11

Posts: 85

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RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

This is the saddest part of the book. Constant war to a young person can only cause a world of despair which is inconceivable to someone from the outside.

Posted Sep. 17, 2014
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pate

Join Date: 03/15/13

Posts: 27

RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

I do believe it is plausible,and not having experienced anything in my lifetime so horrific, it is so sad to think that Saraswathie was driven to such despair by what happened to her, as well as the shame inflicted upon her by her culture. She shows that while you may be strong enough physically to survive, recovering from mental and emotional damage is sometimes not possible.

Posted Sep. 18, 2014
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ylhoff

Join Date: 10/23/12

Posts: 56

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RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

I believe that when a person loses their mind anything is plausible and there may be no rational explanation for the actions that follow. Perhaps she could only have become a soldier because everything that happened to her involved someone wielding power to her detriment. She needed to be powerful in some way and while she never really did stop being "lost," she managed to control her world in ways she could live with.

Posted Sep. 21, 2014
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kimk

Join Date: 10/16/10

Posts: 299

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RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

Oh absolutely. I thought that this aspect of the book was particularly well done. I haven't read many books where the process whereby one becomes a suicide bomber has been described, and I felt that the way the author envisioned the progression was very believable and helped me understand why one might take this route.

Posted Sep. 21, 2014
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sandrah

Join Date: 07/18/11

Posts: 64

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RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

As others have written, Saraswathie.s becoming a soldier who willingly accepts her assignment as a suicide bomber is unfortunately too easy to accept. Her rape allows her little choice but to join the army and she comes to believe so fully in their cause that she recruits her sister.

Posted Oct. 01, 2014
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mal

Join Date: 09/09/13

Posts: 164

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RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

Completely plausible. Tragic and so unnecessary. Traumatized, seeing the carnage day after day, I'm sure mentally and emotionally this young girl was spent. Haunted by the brutality with no way of healing. Sad beyond belief but yet not an unfamiliar situation.

Posted Oct. 06, 2014
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LeahLovesBooks

Join Date: 04/08/14

Posts: 47

RE: Do you think what happens to Saraswathie is plausible?

In the author's gifted hands and imagination, it becomes plausible why she became a suicide bomber.